Looking for Me

On the day that the first tropical storm of the new season arrived in my region, it was easy to justify a day in front of the computer while the rain poured through the trees in the window behind my screen and the laundry was chugging away without my help. The hours fly when surfing the web is a trip into dozens of worlds unlike my own. It is entertaining, amusing, appalling, and fascinating to visit the inner workings of the minds of other lives. Some are very foreign, some are very familiar. I wondered how many other people were doing the same thing across the globe. Why do we do this? What are we looking for? Why is it so absorbing?

We can visit Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and endless other popular places to connect with other people to glimpse whatever they will reveal of their lives. We accept, discard, and consider what it all means to us. We are looking for ourselves. Who are we? Why does a certain life experience appeal to us while another is discarded as unacceptable? I have to decide if playing games is a worthwhile activity to include in my life. I have to decide if taking pictures will be rewarding for my personality. Do I really want to spend my time reading a book about World War II that someone just reviewed? Will it give me any insights into my psyche; will it make me feel good or will it make me feel bad? Yes to this, no to that. So many questions to be answered.

I grew up in an era when so many technological toys were not available and the quest into self-discovery was a different journey. We had to seek out the company of people in our geographic area to see how we could garner some wisdom through their lives to pick and choose what made us comfortable in our own skins. It was a much slower journey to become ourselves. These days constant noise across the globe 24/7 can be overwhelming. I begin to doubt if I can find myself in the middle of so much over-stimulation.

I can't decide if all our technology is better or worse for today's generation. Perhaps this global village will provide companionship to the lonely, insight to the confused, comfort to the infirmed and entertainment to the bored. Considering the number of people addicted to self-destructive habits, all of us need something to fill our lives. 

At times when I am the only person in my house, I am glued to the computer screen. That probably says a lot about me. I'm still stuck to the computer rather than walking around permanently attached to a smart phone. Will the time come that I drop the land line, cancel cable computer and live my life on a smart phone communicating with 5,000 BFF that I've never seen face to face?